Singapore has always been known for it’s vibrant Food and Beverage (F&B) industry. But in the last few years, due to certain foreign labour tightening measures implemented by the Government such as increasing the foreign workers levy and revising the tiered work visa regime, the industry is faced with manpower shortage and increased operating costs.

To help the industry get up on its feet again, Singaporecompanyincorporation.sg (SCI), country’s most popular portal for company registration services, has published a guide listing the alternate sources of local labour pool which the industry can dip into.

“Our guide starts with detailing the problems faced by the F&B industry in Singapore in recent years. Firstly, due to the renewed thrust on having a healthy mix of locals and foreigners in the country’s workforce means F&B outlets need to hire enough Singaporeans to be able to hire a foreign worker. Additionally, the business also needs to pay foreign workers levy, which can be anything between $ 300-600 to the government. Even if the outlet somehow manages to sustain the increased cost, finding locals willing to work in the F&B sector is an uphill task due to the negative perception of the industry in the country,” explains Cheryl Lee, manager at Singaporecompanyincorporation.sg.

The going have been so tough that some big names in the F&B sector such as Work & Barrel, and the Japanese restaurant group RE&S, have either decided to shut shop or decrease their presence in Singapore.

Even the Restaurant Association of Singapore, which has more than 300 members accounting for over 1,300 restaurant outlets, came up with several proposals for the government to consider and ease the labour crunch faced by the industry.

These included adjusting either the foreign worker quota or the levy quantum, channelling levy receipts to help businesses enhance their productivity, and tapping alternative sources of labour.

“That’s why we decided to come up with this guide, which can be the one-stop reference for all F&B retailers and chains in Singapore giving a snapshot of the available alternate sources,” added Lee.

As an increasing number of students in Singapore are seeking part-time employment to finance their education and gain some valuable work experience, the first option for F&B outlets is to tap into this potential source of labour.

Some such as the Jumbo Group of Restaurants are already doing it by redesigning job timings so as to offer greater flexibility to students.

Another potentially huge labour source can be the back-to-work mothers willing to join the workforce again. This will help the F&B outlets overcome their labour crunch as well as improve the fertility rate of Singapore as more women will be willing to take a break to start a family if rejoining the workforce is easier with plenty of options to choose from.

Third alternate source that can be tapped into is to employ persons with disabilities after imparting proper training to them. Hotel Holiday Inn located at Singapore’s Orchard Road is already doing this.

Additionally, F&B businesses can embark on automating their processes and compensate for labour shortage. Certain back-end processes including dish-washing and pre-packaging of ingredients could be pooled. For instance, a Chinese restaurant chain TungLok has stared using semi-automatic stir-frying devices to cook noodles, rice, and other dishes.

“Lastly, as Singapore has one of the highest life expectancies, the normal retirement age of 60-65 years doesn’t apply to the nation any more. Moreover, with rising healthcare costs and fitter population, people are motivated to seek employment even in their late 60s and early 70s. Thus, providing training and employment opportunities to this age group by aligning job scopes as per their competence would help F&B tackle the labour crunch effectively,” concluded Lee.

SingaporeCompanyIncorporation.sg is a portal for entrepreneurs and professionals who want to have a presence in Singapore. It is also a provider of company incorporation, as well as the related taxation and relocation services in Singapore.